Liberty Channelside LLC has the contract on Channelside Bay Plaza in an all-cash deal.

The exact price of the contract is undisclosed.

As has been widely speculated, the developer is a partnership between the Liberty Group and Convergent Capital Partners, both headquartered in Tampa. Late Friday, it filed its proposal to the Port of Tampa, to turn Channelside Bay Plaza around.

In its submission, which the Tampa Bay Business Journal reviewed over the weekend, developers say they intend to “successfully re-launch Channelside as the epicenter of city life in Tampa that speaks to the lifestyle of surrounding residents and visitors alike.”

“Our vision is to transform Channelside from an event venue to a distinctive mixed-use lifestyle center to include office, retail, hotel and restaurant and bar uses,” said Punit Shah, president and chief operating officer of Clearwater-based Liberty Group, a co-joint venture partner in Liberty Channelside with SantoshGovindaraju, portfolio manager and CEO at Convergent Capital Partners, both in Tampa. “That has proven to be a very successful model if you look around that is what is working, it’s lifestyle centers and that is our goal.”

He believes the facility can be active at all hours, not just after 5 p.m.

It plans to be very active assessing the needs of the residents in the neighborhood so that Channelside “meets the needs of the consumer who will use it,” designing and planning with that input. It already has a meeting with the Channelside CRA scheduled for May 8 to seek input.

The architect is Baker Barrios (see renderings).

It is the same team that assembled and is adapting Tampa’s old Mercantile bank building downtown into Aloft, the boutique hotel brand from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

The team – from architects, engineers, interior designers and contractors are local.

“That economic impact stays in Tampa and we intend do same thing at Channelside."

The developers said they also plan to keep on Madison Marquette, the Washington, D.C. property management firm hired by the owner, the former Anglo Irish Bank.

The company is getting the business because it is a “third-party, professional, experienced operator of over 20 million square feet in specialty retail centers,” the application reads.

According to the submission, its plan for success at the distressed center include:

• The introduction of fast-casual restaurant concepts, sundry outlets, and other similar retail concepts along the retail storefront that fronts Channelside Drive.

“These storefronts are intended to cater to the growing residents of the Channel District and Harbour Island, cruise passengers, aquarium visitors, and the downtown office sector,” the proposal said.

• On the interior, the developers intend to maintain original “fine dining, retail, and first-class entertainment concepts” that will make the center “a regional destination.”

• Assess what the local community wants and act on that feedback.

To be successful, the developer said its efforts to successfully re-launch Channelside “have to be meaningful enough for people to take notice and to care, and powerful enough to make the difference that the community desires,” the documents read. “Our intention is to develop a new, differentiated identity in the minds of local residents and visitors alike that our community will support.”

• A targeted marketing and branding effort. Its target audience and strategy is to focus on adults 18-54, families and kids, special events (Fourth of July, Gasparilla and holiday events), community outreach with tourists and key neighbors including the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa Convention Center, and Florida Aquarium.

• A revitalization plan includes creating a more welcoming sense of arrival for guests.

Developers said they plan to immediately coordinate with various agencies on a uniform lighting and landscaping plan with the Tampa Port Authority and Florida Aquarium.

“Uniformity and standards will help improve the sense of arrival,” the proposal reads.

• Better ingress and egress. Initial solutions may be temporary with use of the adjacent surface parking lot, the proposal said.

“We intend to slowly educate guests over time to effectively use the parking garage,” the developers said.“Other permanent solutions we intend to target are the construction of a pedestrian bridge(s) from the parking garage to Retail Center spanning Channelside Drive.”

• Capital improvements as needed. Developers haveengaged the center’s original builder Beck Construction to help evaluate the existing structure and the redevelopment plans. Structural integrity of the property is fine, the developers said.

“Within the confines of our redevelopment timeframe and budget, it is reasonable to expect that the Retail Center can be significantly improved to meet the scope of our design intent,” given Beck’s review.

That will begin as soon as closing is complete and over 24 months, the developers said.

• Rebranding that includescomprehensive marketing, seasonal campaigns, community outreach, social media, and grass roots organic promotion that “will make Channelside the place where tenants want to be.” The word “Channelside” is something the developers say they will “continue to embrace.”

“We intend to re-brand and create a new identity for the Retail Center, bringing a new energy to the project and new opportunities to appeal to upscale tenants. It plans to engage a branding consultant.

• Community input on the agenda. Liberty Channelside plans to meeting with existing tenants, prior to closing, to understand “their objectives and how we can align our interests for mutual long-term success,” the proposal reads.

The long troubled 234,520-square-foot Channelside complex opened in 2001. In 2006, Ashkenazy defaulted on a $27 million loan and Anglo Irish Bank of Dublin held the mortgage and foreclosed on Channelside.

The Port Authority owns the land. State law says the port's interests in the complex supersede anyone.

Last year, two powerhouse groups lined up to bid on Channelside's lease. Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik teamed up with Franklin Street CEO Andrew Wright and Anthony Everett, president of Everett Realty Services in Metis Channelside LLC. It was a favorite to negotiate a deal with the IBRC.

Mortgage magnate Bill Edwards teamed with Rick Michaels, chairman and CEO of Communications Equity Associates, and Ken Jones, CEA's executive vice president and general counsel. It planned a concept similar to L.A. Live, the entertainment complex that surrounds the Staples Center.

Late in 2012, the Port Authority hoped Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and his partners — would turn around the complex. Anglo-Irish tried to get the previous operator, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., to relinquish its right to match any offer, but that failed.

In October, The Vinik group suspended negotiations with the Port Oct. 22., citing insurmountable legal hurdles – specifically Ashkenazy's right of first refusal. The developers got involved once former owner, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. of New York was no longer able to block the deal. It isn’t clear how the hurdle was resolved between the bank and Ashkenazy. Over the next month, Port staff will now review the proposal.

Liberty Group and Convergent are private, closely-held real estate investment firms with significant capital committed by its principals. Over the past thirty years, its principals have owned, managed, and developed more than $2 billion of commercial real estate. In the past four years, they have acquired and successfully repositioned more than $550 million of commercial real estate, it said in materials submitted to the Port late Friday. “Liberty Channelside intends to use its proven experience and expertise to reposition the existing retail center into a world-class lifestyle destination,” the group said.